OverDrive - Willson on the Browns' quarterback landscape, Sanders causing a stir and the TNF matchup

Episode Date: October 2, 2025

TSN NFL Analyst Luke Willson joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around the 49ers and Rams' matchup, the Browns' quarterback depth and Dillon Gabriel starting, Shedeur Sanders' silent answers, Hayes and Bro's selection and more.

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If you smell What the Owen Wilson Is cooking There he is Man the hair is dialed tonight Wow What's going on with that salad

Dude you look like you're 18 man That's good news 18 I like that You've got to get younger these days Partsy Well I mean maybe you could play for the Niners tonight If you're healthy

You could possibly play for them tonight It's tough sliding over there Between them and the Ravens I mean it seems like everybody's out. They got obviously Purdy, you know, Pearsall's out now, Jennings is out, Iyuk, I think they thought

would be at least close to coming back right now. Apparently he's not. I mean, it's a bloodbath over there. Yeah. Like is this one where McCaffrey's got to go off for like 200 total yards tonight for them to have any chance at winning? I would say yes, or at least in that realm.

They need to get the run game going and it hasn't been, it has not gotten going whatsoever. And or Bob Sala pulls a little magic trick and somehow kind of slows down the Rams and Matthew Safford. Harts, that's your boy. I know you love him

and he is dynamite right now. How excited are you about the way he's playing throwing to his boys out there? I'm fired up and what kind of excites me is for me and I think for the majority of people when you watch a quarterback play the game the way he plays it, it's a lot more enjoyable

to watch. I don't love the whole recess ball. Of course, Once in a while, it's great, but I'm a guy who likes to sit back here and see a quarterback, sling the pill, fire it down field, you know, with a lot of zip on. And didn't you say that he was very particular in practice about if he missed the throw or other quarterbacks just would not do that, where if it was like off the wrong shoulder, he would tap you and say, sorry about that, that's on me or whatever? I'm telling you, my first OTAs, it was like a pretty intense moment because Patricia was

running it, so we were scrimaging. and I caught a five-yard stick route, turned it up the field, but kind of twisted with it, ended up probably being a 12-yard play. I got back, you know, it's a good play, and he was like, hey, man, I got to put that on your shoulder so you can pick up a few more there. And I was like, holy smile. And I'm talking, we're talking, you know, eight inches difference, and he was, like, critical of himself for that.

He'd be, you know, he was the type of guy that even if it wasn't his fault, he would always, like, take the blame to, like, let the guys play free. and you give them Puka and the other guy that they've got now is Devante Adams who's quietly been having a great year and been a big part of this offense that's a nasty dynamic duel right there

Yeah I mean it's a massive game because of what's going on in the NFC West Like they're both 3 and 1 Right and you get that Seahawks 3 and 1 And the cards are 2 and 2 Like it's a massive massive swing game tonight The NFC West is a juggernaud And like even coming into the year

There's a lot of teams where it's know, make or break, I would say for the Cardinals right now, like if they don't have a very good year, at some point you've got to nuke that entire situation. Like, at what point is that team going to be like a playoff team? You know, in what point is Kyler going to be a difference maker? Right now, you know, two and two, they had a shot. So I think that's a big question mark there, the Niners, barring all the injuries. Before that, you would have said, like, hey, can this roster or this core group of guys get

it done, you know, so there's the big question mark there. Like, how long is that window, especially now that Purdy is paid? Seattle, you know, there's a lot of questions as far as I'd say they're the most up-and-coming team. Defense is young. Head coach is relatively new there and also young. And offensively, you've got a new quarterback, new offensive coordinator. And then you've got the Rams who I thought last year, when it came down to the playoffs

or probably the second or third best team in the playoffs. And they should be 4-0 right now if it wasn't for a kicker who can't figure out how to kick a ball. Well, Luke, is this a trap game tonight with that line, though? I mean, is that a big line you feel like... It is a big... I don't want to, like, tip my cap too much, and I will say I'm coming off the worst pick

in the history of overdrive. Dude, what happened there, man? That bangles pick. I saw you, you're talking about the Bengals. You were like, that's the worst performance I've ever seen the league, And you took them. That's not my Partsy. Yeah, I'm telling you, it, Partsy.

I thought for sure Browning would, like, put up a fight. Like, they couldn't get lined up. That Monday Nighter was one of the hardest watches I've ever had in my life. I'll tell you, in fundamentally, I've never seen a team play so flawed at that level in my life also. Like, it was just disgusting football. And it should have been worse, but Denver was just as bad at points. Denver had a ton of brutal penalties. You know, they didn't ever get stopped.

They saw it themselves. So, I mean, it was thankful that we're playing No Beavis and Butthead, and they decided to roll with the Jets. That was a horrible pick. Horrible pick. It was. Horrible. I said the next day, like rule number one in gambling is. Know who you're betting on.

Forget who you're betting against and what the line is. Think about the team you're betting on first and foremost. And if it's the Jets, think again, recalibrate, go back to the well. But what sucks you in to just get? getting away from that haze. Just stupid things getting in your head weather. Stupidity. Stupid stuff. Al's Bro, Al's pro, infiltrated them, man. They could have been tied right now.

Yeah, we should have been one-up. No blood. And now what's going to happen tonight is they're going to read, you know, they're reading the press clippings because that's their source. And they're going to pick. They're going to pick the Rams. We'll get to that. We'll get to that. And I'm telling you, it's a Thursday night divisional game between

a very, very well-coed San Francisco team. They're going to make it a fight. Eight and a half is too big of a number. Too big of a number. It does scare me that the coaches are good and McCaffrey's there and it's just the injuries are crazy. Too big of a number. Yeah, it's a massive number.

We'll get to it in a moment. But there's a lot going on in this league. Like we're already in October and it feels like there's a lot of teams that are kind of feeling it. I mean, Baltimore first and foremost. Cleveland's making this quarterback change. Like Joe Flacco has not been good, clearly. But what were they expecting out of Joe Flacco?

And now they're going to Dylan Gabriel. And Shador Sanders is, you know, asking people to lip-breed as press conferences. It just gets goofier and goofier. Like, what do you see happening with Gabriel? If it gets ugly, do you think they could go to Sanders at some point this year? At some point this year, for sure, you know. I believe Flacco is listed as the two, not the three. He is.

So I don't think Shudur is coming in any time soon. The tough part right now is, you know, Gabriel was obviously picked ahead of Cedar, so unless Gabriel goes out here and just pukes all over himself, they're going to naturally give him a ton of runway to make mistakes, which is not a bad thing

for a young quarterback. But what's been tough is, you know, Flacko is known for later in his career. He's kind of been, you know, running some turnover issues, but generally speaking, you get the big splash plays. You get the, you know, he's throwing the ball over the field.

and he's not throwing it over the field and you're still getting the turnovers. So even to me, Gabriel can run a little bit, just kind of play some recess football and find a way to get to 17-ish points, which I don't even know if you can do that, but we'll see, like this Cleveland defense is the real deal.

They're very, very talented. It obviously starts with Miles Garrett. So I think if you can just have an offense that is, again, doesn't even have to be average, but just takes care of the football and can kind of create. some point, some way, they can at least be competitive because right now they're not, that offense is future. The only thing I've seen worse was the Bengals

Monday night. Parts, how quickly would a veteran have got to Shadur and said that nonsense you pulled the other day is unacceptable or would they just say I'm not even going to bother with that? I think it's not bother because it's so ridiculous and they're not winning. You know, if this is a team that was like, hey, we got a legitimate shot right now in the division. We feel good about what's going on. We need everybody pulling the same direction. Maybe a veteran comes over.

But I watch that. And I'm like, what is this? Like high school? This is pro football. And I can't wrap my head around a third string quarterback. Like, if you're a third string quarterback, we didn't even have, let me phrase that. In Seattle, we only kept two. Like, not everyone has a third string quarterback.

They have the guy that, you know, it's that rule where they can dress them. he's on the practice squad. Like, you're there to be seen, not heard. You're there to put your head down and grind. And if you are asked interview questions, like, you should be supporting, like, hey, you know, I learned a lot from Joe Flacko. I'm really grateful for his time,

and I'm going to use this timer now. He's not getting as many reps in practice. I'm going to be in his pocket being like, yo, what are you seeing here? What are you thinking here? Like, Joe Flacco is a guy who's been there, done that. yes, he's been pulled this year, but hardly anybody has more

reps and more experience in him. You just want Shudor and I like Shudor. I actually think that one day talent-wise, he could be a player in the league, but he's just got to get out of his own way. It's just so unprofessional. It disgusts me. And that's what's disappointing about it.

Yeah, it's so unnecessary. I said yesterday, though, like a part of it's on the PR team, and I don't know how the NFL works, but why is a third string quarterback available to the media? you, period. I'm with you on that. And the next one, like, a lot of people were like, oh, he was responding to Rex Ryan, which

I didn't really get how that, like... I didn't really get that either. What's the response? He just said getting to the front of the line in the video room would pay attention. So what does that have to do with miming? I don't get that. Here's the next thing, guys. And I mean this, like, and I understand that I'm now in the media

and, you know, we all are. Like, when I was playing, I wasn't really like, what is the media saying? about me. Like, I never really, like, paid attention to the point of, like, oh, like, Troy Aikman took a shot at me. You know, Troy was actually pretty complimentary. I liked me to call my games. I think Troy liked me. But beyond that, it's like, what am I going to do, like, getting a fight with a guy on a talk show? Like, I don't know if you guys have had anything with the leaves. But, like, to me, when you're arguing with media guys or miming in

in response to a media guy being firm and saying, like, hey, you should be in the front row. Like, you've lost the plot. You're a professional athlete. You need to be accountable to your teammates and to your coaches. That's it. You don't need to be accountable to the media. Yeah, accountable in the sense of you answer the questions, you're there for the interviews. But the real pro guys that I play with, you know, they don't care about the media narrative as much as they care about the opinions of their own.

teammates in the locker room. And especially playing quarterback, that is a very, very bad look, in my opinion. Speaking of good looks, here's my main man, Al's brothers. We moved to a five.

There he is. I love this. A five shot for AB. Al's brother, I think, very quality logic, right? I think taking the Jets, the whole process was perfect. We got jammed, but I thought our process was quality. Whose call

was it, I was brother? Yours or Hayes? I'll take a little ownership. I'll take the ownership on that. I think Hazy B was 50-50. I think I nudged him over the line. But let's be honest, Braylen Allen doesn't fumble that ball at the end zone. It scores. Here's the difference. Here come the excuses.

Jake Browning threw for 350 yards. We cover, too, man. Doesn't matter. Get out of here. Except Jake Browning wasn't even close. This guy was an inch from the end And he wasn't close to hanging on to the ball either. Get out of here with excuses. All right. Alice, brother, we are on the clock.

So Fandall, this line has been moving up on Fandall all day. Take it, boys. It's eight and a half now. We're locking that in, doogie. I think we're locking that in. Lock it in, says J.P. Okay. So it's eight and a half.

Rams laying eight and a half at home against a depleted Niners lineup. Where does your head go with this one? Well, like, the number's moving because the money is coming in droves. on the Rams here. I mean, you saw on the weekend what it looks like, or Monday night what it looks like, when you have a rag-tag bunch of dudes out there trying to move the ball against an NFL defense.

It's not good, just like Jake Browning wasn't able to do a whole lot of anything on Monday. I don't like what Mack Jones is going to do tonight with the San Francisco 49ers. You're taking on a much better offense in the L.A. Rams. They're very well-balanced team. I think the injuries, we can't bet on the Niners here, Hayes. I just don't think we can bet on the Niners.

It's a massive number. It's a divisional game. You always say that, hazy. Divisional game, you never go after that big number. We just saw it with the Dolphins and the Bills a couple of weeks ago. It was basically the same number. Go with your gut. Go with your gut. The gut says Matt Stafford, who's my boy, it always has. Oh, my. Oh, yeah. I think he slings it around the park tonight. I mean, that's the thing. Without Bosa, that's, forget the office.

who's chasing, who's making Matt Stafford feel uncomfortable tonight? Right. I don't see who's going to make him uncomfortable. I think the run game will be there. And then you got Puka, you've got Adams, who's been great. It's at home for the Rams. Like, they're just, they're so depleted. The Niners were, they're kind of lucky to get those first three wins.

Like, they were barely across the line. The most fraudulent three-one football team in the league. Most fraudulent three-one record in the league. I think you're right. Seattle in week one. Yes. Right? They barely beat the Saints.

They barely beat the Cardinals. They lost to Jacksonville. Lock it in and a terrible football. All right. Lay the points. Lock it in. Matt Stafford, our boy. We love Matt Stafford.

We love Sean McVeigh. Plus two. We're on the Rams. We're on the Rams. The Rams have covered four straight. Four straight here against Shanahan and the Niners. And it's about to be five straight tonight. Well, McFade does own Shanahan.

You know, the last time a guy in this in this show took the Rams Do you want to know what happened? Yeah, the touchdown off a block field goal. The Rams owe us one, and they're going to win tonight by seven points, and Parsi will be plus two. The Rams owe us. They do owe you for that. After how many times you picked your boy Stafford,

and you've always gone with him, he owes us something. He owes us one. A late pick. A late pick would be beautiful. Late pick driving. Okay. Well, we're going to lay the points. It's a massive, massive number.

It's a very uncomfortable else, brother. We get jammed with the toughest games every single week. These guys get Broncos bangles, and they screw it up, and we get stuff like this. But it's all good. How many points you think this offense can put up Rams tonight against the Niners? I think they could probably put up 24, 28, 30 points? Yeah, I think they could put up, oh, yeah, I think 24 to 28.

And I'm with you. Mack Jones, he's not scoring more than 14 points tonight. Exactly. that's where I'm at. They would have to keep the Rams to under 20 points in order to win this football game. And they just simply are incapable of doing that. They give up 26 to Jacksonville last week. Jacksonville is good now.

Jacksonville is good. Their head coach trying to beat people up after the game. Jacksonville's heard. Salah got punked, man. Salah's not going to have anything going tonight, man. His defense probably looks down on him now. He got punked by the Jags coach. Do you know how hard that is?

Yeah, that is tough. Duvall. Yeah, Liam Cohen, Duval is owning you on the sideline. He better grow hair for the game tonight. He needs to have a completely different look and completely different vibe. Rams roll. We're laying the points. I love it, Ellis brother.

Double-digit dub for the Rams tonight. I love it. And I think we've got multiple Monday nighters again this week. I believe we do. Again. I think so. Do we have a London game again? We got so many games.

Yeah, there's another London game of liking stuck around. Parts. I'm not going to lie to you. Last week, we were very, very close. A couple bad bounces from getting to like a plus six plus seven. I'm telling you right now, when the Niners cover this, they lose by seven, eight points tonight, it's off to the races for us. What are you honestly? I honestly think that we both know that that's not happening. I'm telling you, I think the Niners will find a way to keep it close. Really? If it wasn't our pick, we wouldn't have been done the same thing that they just did,

Partsy? Listen, man, you know Kyle Shanahan's my guy. No, he's not your guy. No. Sally running out of the stairs. We got to Marcus Robinson back today. Does your boy Salas still run the stairs before the game? Of course, man.

How unnecessary is that? Like, it's just such a... Like, this thing started at five and a half. That's probably the true line here. It's been bet up by numpties like Al's bro to eight and a half. We're live. We're good. Purdy was supposed to play, man.

Dude, Matt Jones has played better. than Purdy. Purdy's been terrible this year. Purdy said two days ago, he's like, I'm going to be ready for the game. He's like, I couldn't play tonight, but I got two days, and I was like, that guy's going to play. I think that's what his quote was. Yeah, he was, every time it looks like he's been ruled in,

and then all of a sudden he's ruled out. If he was making $850,000, this guy's playing tonight. I guarantee that. I guarantee you he's playing tonight. There's a good chance. That's true. With $55 million, one more week. One more week one. Rest a little. Yeah,

Yeah, rest it up. Rest it up. All right, boys. Al's brother, great pick. Great analysis, as always. And I love where we're at, man. I think we tie it up tonight and then have ourselves an immaculate week. And it all starts with a winner on a Thursday night.

Rams 8.5 for Hayes and Bro. All right, Luke, Al's brother. Good seeing you guys. Catch you guys tomorrow. There it is. Luke Wilson, Al's brother. And the Rams pick is in. The newest tracks and the next big thing.

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